TIP #248
This tip was sent on the week: February 21st to February 28th2010

Tip #248 -
Using the “Split” Function in the Professional Translators

Applies to Translator Professional and Translator Professional Plus

If you are using the Professional Version of our text translator, you may have noticed that in the Interactive Mode, in Spanish, the “ Split” feature is not operative yet. This will be implemented in a future version (6.0)

The “Split” feature is used whenever you have a word cluster (several words linked together as a single dictionary entry) as is the case of proverbs, idiomatic verbs, colloquial expressions, typical noun phrases (set phrases) and sayings, in case you should prefer the “literal” instead of the idiomatic meaning.

For instance, if you want to translate “Piece of cake”, the idiomatic (colloquial) rendition into Spanish would be:

“Es pan comido (es muy fácil)”

However, using the Split button (upper bar of the interactive window, at the right) you obtain a literal translation:

El pedazo de pastel

In Spanish, you can obtain a similar result choosing a different part of speech, using the Part of Speech Box at the right of the same Interactive window:

Es pan comido = It’s a piece of cake (Colloquial translation)

Now place the cursor over “Es” and click on Vrb, in the Part of Speech Box; the result is now a literal rendition:

“It’s eaten bread”

Next week we will explain a different way of accomplishing the same thing.

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